Taiwan to Treat Chinese Drone Incursions as ‘First Strike,’ Says Defense Chief

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan will treat Chinese drone or jet incursions into its airspace as a “first strike,” its defense chief said, amid rising concerns over Beijing’s strategy of flying unmanned surveillance craft around the island.

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The ministry “does not wish for war to break out in the Taiwan Strait, which will be very tragic,” Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said in response to questions from lawmakers on Thursday.

The remarks appeared to reiterate previous declarations that Taiwan has made about aircraft violating the 12-nautical-mile (22 kilometer) area that Taiwan regards as defining its territorial sea and airspace. While China has sent increasing numbers of aircraft into the island’s far broader air defense identification zone, it has stayed out of the narrower region Chiu was referring to.

Taiwan has found itself under increasing pressure from Beijing, which views the self-governing island as part of its territory. That pressure includes near-daily warplane incursions across the Taiwan Strait past the median line, an unofficial border separating the two sides in the middle of the busy waterway.

Twice within a one-week period, China has sent autonomous aircraft around much of the island, though they have not strayed into the 12-mile limit Chiu said would represent an attack.

Still, lawmakers expressed concerns about the “new normal” of China testing Taiwan’s defenses, whether through violations of the median line or drone flights. Last year, the People’s Liberation Army nearly doubled the number of military flights around the island compared to a year earlier to more than 1,700.

Read More: China Sends Drones Circling Taiwan in New Surveillance Tactic

Chiu also said that Taiwan’s biggest annual live-fire drill simulating Chinese attacks, the Han Kuang Exercise, will incorporate scenarios of eastern Taiwan being attacked. That comes after China’s Shandong aircraft carrier battle group conducted training in the waters east of Taiwan.

Separately, Taiwan authorities said in a report published Thursday that the island will receive its first batch of 66 F-16V jets from the US later than planned, in the third quarter of 2024 rather than the end of this year.

The US is also expected to deliver four MQ-9 drones that Taiwan ordered in 2025, another Taiwanese defense ministry official told lawmakers.

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